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Thursday, June 05, 2008

swap and a question

Jacquie and I did a swap a few weeks ago.I sent her this quilt (top only)...and she sent me this lovely pile of fabric.

What a fun way to slash my in progress list and add to my stash at the same time. I couldn't think of anything better! By the way, Jacquie is having a 100th post giveaway, so go check it out.-----------Now, I have a question for all you quilters....

Have you ever quilted a quilt from back to front? I know there is a book about it that I perused a few years ago, but I am wondering if anyone has any experience with this type of quilting. After quilting this quilt, which was so incredibly easy because there were so few seams to quilt over, it got me thinking about trying the back to front technique for this pink quilt, which has an insane amount of seams. (I'm planning on stippling it.)Any thoughts, comments, suggestions?I'd love to hear them.

What I have seen done is to use a print on the back that can easily be followed as a pattern... then just sandwich with the backing up and use the print as a guide to do the quilting. It is something I have thought of trying as well but.. I would actually have to FINISH a quilt to do that... ;) Hope yours comes out great!

It was an episode of Simply Quilts: the quilter would pick a complicated floral or geometric print for the backing, and then use that as the guide. The advantages include being able to use metallics in the bobbin, which then show on the "right" side of the quilt.

Me? Hey, I'm lucky if I can quilt free-motion and not have it look like birds are making thread nests on the quilt...

I have never tryed it myself but have heard of others that used a fun print on the back and followed that pattern for inspiration.I find that I always end up with a few puckers on the back, so I would be worried about doing that to the front instead. I haven't perfected my quilt sandwich.If you are just going to meander and not follow a pattern, I don't know if it makes any difference on back or front.

What a wonderful swap!... she said with some envy in her voice...LOL!Quilting from back to front, well that’s a new thing to me, but a great idea. Using a print for the backing and quilting on the fabric-design. I think it would work great for your quilt too!!Please show and tell what you did!

I've quilted one from the back. It was a bargello with an insane number of seams. But the reason I chose to do it was because I had a wonderful batik print on the back that I used for my quilting design. I don't think it actually made the quilting any easier with the majority of the seams underneath... if anything, I was more worried that the bulk of the seams against the throat plate might actually cause some folding and bunching. Thankfully, that didn't happen. But if you're going just be stippling, using regular thread, I think maybe it would be safer to just work from the top so you can keep an eye on those seams.

Really, though-- I doubt you can go wrong on that quilt. It will be lovely no matter what! :)

Lovely quilt top. WONDERFUL fabrics. My concern with stippling from back to front would be that there's usually at least a little bit of thread pulled from the front to the back, which normally just blends into the back, but I'm not sure about the front. I'd also worry about puckering of the fabric because sometimes I have to manipulate the quilt a little so the fabric doesn't bunch up no matter how well I basted it.LeEt us know what you decide and how it turns out.

love the quilt top and the fabrics! I've seen a lovely quilt done with an indian batik on the back which inspired quilting from the back. wouldn't the amount of seams just be a problem for the bobbin thread if you turned it over?

Hey Amanda--Love the fabrics that Jacquie sent you and your quilt top...wow! I've never done a back to front quilt, but I did see a print the other day that I really liked, but didn't buy (silly me). I haven't been able to get it out of my mind and I think it would be really cool as a back to front quilt. Only problem...I have no idea what I'd put on the front. Maybe just a coordinating solid. Good luck and I'll be waiting to see what you come up with. Btw, I'm having a lot of fun with the star qal--just posted blocks 3 and 4. Thanks!

I don't have any advice on the quilting, having only quilted in the ditch. (And only twice, at that.) But I did have to chime in and say what gorgeous quilts you've made! I love the simplicity of the blue quilt, and the randomness of the pink quilt.

I tried the back to front quilting following the design of the backing fabric (all over floral design) and it worked out great, used same color thread top & bottom that matched the back. Also, even though I don't have a blog and can't post pictures, I've made all the blocks for your first quilt-along (except the star one, substituted this with a bento-like block: to make a baby quilt in the future but undetermined size yet so will leave as blocks for now) and and have cut out all the fabrics for all the star blocks for your second quilt-along (omitting the repeat ohio star since I only wanted 12 blocks) and plan on sewing all the stars up tomorrow. Not going to do the setting blocks as I stick w/ baby-size quilts for manageability. This has been fun and a challenge, especially as I usually HATE triangles, so it's been fun to force myself to practice these. Thanks for hosting the quilt along!

I have never tried quilting back to front and don't think I am going to. The reason for this is that my stitches tend to be a bit off on the back when I am rounding a corner when stippling. You get tiny loops through which the back thread is running more tightly. If I would quilt back to front this would be on the front of the quilt and not acceptable to me.

I have done a quilt-from-the back quilt, and it turned out well. My backing fabric had a bunch of Easter eggs, which gave me a guide for a large looping pattern. I'm a reluctant free-motion quilter, and this gave me some courgae to try something different. I had no problems with puckers, etc., so I guess I should thank my machine for being so well behaved!

Considering what a talented free-motion quilter you are, I would say go for it. I personally wouldn't try it just yet, just because I still have tension and angled "curves" problems with free-motion, but your stitching is so beautiful...I don't think you could go wrong.

I have some fabric, I think it was designed by Laura Heine a quilt shop owner and pattern designer from Montana. It is designed for quilting from the back of the quilt. Not sure I can find it at the moment, but I think it would look great with your pink quilt. It is a continuos feather design, white pink and green if I remember correctly. Now I am gonna have to dig through my stash.

I have done that when I wanted to use a heavy thread (glittery serger thread) as an added dimension to the quilt. It will flow from a bobbin case with loosened tension while it could not be used in the needle. Otherwise I don't see any reason for doing it that way unless you are following the pattern of the print of the backing fabric.

I quilted my last quilt from the back and was happy with the results. Just don't make the VERY ANNOYING mistake that I did of pinning it on the front (old habits are very hard to break) and then being too stubborn to go back and re-pin it. I cursed every one of those safety pins that got hung up on my sewing machine. Other than that fiasco, I didn't find it any different than quilting from the front.